One Man, One Wire, Two Towers

by Nicholas Robinson

On August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit, a French wire walker, juggler, and street performer days shy of his 25th birthday, spent 45 minutes walking, dancing, kneeling, and lying on a wire he and friends strung between the rooftops of the Twin Towers. – IMDB.com

Now, all my life I have been turned off of documentaries. To me they have been boring films of people sitting in a chair and talking to me for two hours. For the past few years, my brother has been trying to get me to watch documentaries (such as this one) telling me that they can actually be good. Until today, I didn’t believe him. This is a wonderful movie and should be recognized as such.

Maybe it is because I haven’t seen many documentaries but this one did something which I have never seen before in a documentary and it is one of the main reasons that I love this movie. Instead of just sitting there telling me things and maybe showing me a picture, while the people were talking there was footage (almost as if it was a biopic not a documentary) of what they were talking about. I am not sure if it was archive footage or re-enactments but it really helped me get into the story and actually enjoy the film,

Also, what seemed unconventional to me was that during his interviews, Philippe wouldn’t just sit there and tell you his story. He would get up out of his chair and act out certain things. At one point when he was describing hiding from a guard on the roof of the South Tower, his head was peeking out from behind the curtains at the back of the room and the way he told the story didn’t feel like he was giving an interview. It felt as if he were talking with a new friend or his children telling them the story of how he did something truly amazing.

However, there was something. It’s not really that I had a problem with it. It’s just that I didn’t fully understand it’s place in the movie. In the first thirty minutes of the movie, there were just shots of the construction of the Twin Towers set to music. I didn’t fully understand what they were doing there because I understand this whole movie revolves around the Twin Towers and it was a Philippe’s dream to walk on a wire between them since he was 17 but I just don’t understand it.

Overall, this movie was an entertaining film that was a wonderful introduction into the world of documentaries.